Ocean Music
by Aron
Summary: It's that time of year... Shamouti Island is celebrating the Legend Festival! Melody is the festival maiden, but this year's Chosen One seems interested in much more than just the islands' three treasures... EarthiaShipping, read & review!
1. Lost Lamb

**CHAPTER ONE – LOST LAMB**

* * *

"_A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ~ Lao Tzu_

* * *

Hundreds of people clambered at the exit points on the large ferry as it came to rest at the ancient wharf, the sailors throwing out the line and securing it in place before the gangways were readied. Men and women pushed and shoved each other in their haste to get onto dry land, drawn to the flashing lights, excited noises, and enticing smells that hit them from the mainland and beckoned them away from the chilly night air that blew in from the ocean. The children squealed and waved their arms in the air as they were let off the boat, not waiting a moment longer than their parents made them before they sped towards the festivities.

But amongst the throngs of happy tourists looking for enjoyment, there was one person who couldn't have cared less about the events ashore.

He watched with uncaring eyes as the ferry slowly emptied itself of passengers, preferring to wait until last to depart. He slowly made his way to the gangway, not bothering to show courtesy to the people who barred his way; he simply pushed the younger ones aside and waited for the older ones to hurry out of his path. As his navy-blue shoes touched down on the wharf's well-worn planks, he took a deep breath and glanced back at the boat that had brought him here, his mouth twitching briefly into a frown before he focused back towards the island itself. He had landed on Shamouti Island, the cultural and geographical heart of the Orange Islands, and it was the time of year when the residents of Shamouti did what they do best.

It was time for the annual Legend Festival, and the island was celebrating in full swing.

There were rows upon rows of food stalls that packed the sides of the streets, which themselves were full to bursting with crowds of partiers of all ages, races and sizes; everyone was moving about, talking to the people closest to them, and having fun as the festive atmosphere grew and grew. A huge paper Gyarados, held up by a dozen festival performers, was paraded through the streets as part of the celebrations, and a formation of dancers dressed in strange, bird-like costumes danced around a totem pole in the centre of a large plaza, surrounded by a swarm of applauding onlookers.

He tried to get into the upbeat mood that the island was throwing at him, but he couldn't bring himself to celebrating, so he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his indigo jacket and stalked towards the crowds, hoping to find something that was more appealing to his taste. Shouts and smells bombarded him from all sides as he came closer to the centre of the action; obese men spruiked their goods every twenty or so feet, attracting many a gullible customer, and keen-eyed magicians performed so-called 'feats of wonder' in front of bands of wide-eyed boys and girls, who all screamed with delight as they conjured Buneary out of nowhere.

He smirked as he thought whether any of the brats were as keen-eyed as to actually notice the Abra hiding itself underneath each magician's table, but he knew that they weren't, and he quickly grew bored of the spectacle. His mouth twitching downward again, he turned away and moved down the road again, still looking for something that was exciting; exciting by his standards, at any rate.

"—Drain!" shouted a voice somewhere to his left, and his ears instantly perked up as he recognised it; it was an order for a Pokémon to attack. He smirked as he realised that, at last, there was something he could get distracted by, and he quickened his pace towards the source of the noise. There was a flash as a green glow slashed itself across the open space at the end of the next street, and so he was almost jogging by the time he reached the open square and saw what he was looking for.

A Pokémon battle.

He raised his eyebrows as he saw the two Pokémon that were standing in the middle of the huge, polished wooden platform that stood in the middle of the square, their figures illuminated by a criss-cross of yellow paper lanterns that hung on strings above the ground. The first one was a huge creature with a cream-coloured lower jaw and belly, its bulky blue arms and legs coming out of a huge brown shell mounted on its back. Two large cannons jutted out from small openings behind the Pokémon's arms, and its crimson eyes gleamed as it shot a thick jet of water from its turrets, only for the torrent to be stopped short by a wide beam of yellow light that was blasted from its foe's mouth.

The Blastoise's opponent was a huge, dinosaur-like Pokémon, its wide mouth splitting into an even wider grin that displayed pointed teeth and blood-red jaws. Its bumpy green skin looked as tough as concrete, stretching all the way down to its four trunk-like legs, each of which ended in three razor claws. A four-sided fern flopped about on top of the Pokémon's back, and growing out of the centre of the fern was a gigantic, beautiful flower, its mottled pink and yellow leaves bouncing up and down as their owner stamped its feet on the ground and roared.

"_Venusaaa!_" boomed the Pokémon. Venusaur's Trainer, standing at the edge of the platform, was a tall man in his early twenties with dark blue hair and piercing black eyes, his gaunt chin framed by the red collar of his coat.

"Excellent work, Bruteroot!" he commended. "Now finish Blastoise off with your Leaf Storm!" he commanded, and Venusaur roared as its hefty body was covered in bright green light. A moment later, a cloud of green leaves tore itself out of the core of its flower, swarming about like a horde of angry insects before launching themselves in a frenzy at the enemy Blastoise. Blastoise roared in pain as they slashed at its armoured hide, but the effort was too much, and it fell like a stone onto the ground with a final thump, spirals in its eyes.

"Shellshocker?!" shrieked the Water-type's Trainer, who was a young woman of the same age as the Venusaur's Trainer. She had mahogany-coloured hair that fell in a spiked mess around her shoulders, and she wore a curious blue shirt with a white collar, matching her sea-coloured cargo pants. With a resigned sigh, she held out her PokéBall and returned her Blastoise to its depths, hiding a frown as she walked towards the centre of the arena. The male Trainer recalled his Venusaur as well and met her in the middle, giving her a warm embrace and turning around to face the crowd with his arm around her waist.

"Now who wants to take on Neesha and I in a double battle?!" he called out to them. After a few moments, the blue-shoed spectator who had spotted them from the main street walked forwards and onto the platform, his head tilted slightly to the side as he made his way towards the middle. "Okay then! I'm Corey," he said sharply, holding out a hand, which his challenger shook. "What's your name, squirt?" he asked, leaning his head forwards to see a pair of cold, black eyes hidden under a fringe of purple hair.

"The name's Paul."

"Right then, _Paul_," Corey sneered, Neesha rolling her eyes at him in the background, "this'll be a two-on-two battle. Neesha and I send out one Pokémon each, and you have to beat us with your two, obviously. Understand?"

"More than you do," Paul muttered harshly, about-facing and walking back to his end of the makeshift arena. Corey bared his teeth in anger for a moment, unnerved by his challenger's lack of respect, but also because the latter was making him look like a fool in front of his partner and fiancée.

"Corey, you've got to be a bit smoother to kids," Neesha tittered, shrugging her shoulders and making her way back to their side. Corey flexed the muscles in his neck threateningly and swiftly turned around to follow her. Once he had joined her at the platform's edge, she nodded, smiled, and threw one of her PokéBalls into the air and shouted, "Come on out, Wigglytuff!"

The PokéBall burst open, and a huge pink Pokémon appeared on the polished floor. It had huge sea-green eyes, a pink curl of fur between its long, rabbit-like ears, and two stubby, marshmallow-like arms that curled into fists in front of its white belly. Paul grunted knowingly as he recognised the Pokémon as a Wigglytuff; he didn't need his Pokédex to know that. Nor did he need his Pokédex for the Pokémon that suddenly appeared out of the PokéBall that Corey hurled forward, because it was one he was actually carrying inside one of the PokéBalls on his waist.

Corey's Pokémon was a huge, armoured shape that stood on two bulky grey legs, a long tail sliding onto the wood behind its body. A line of ridge-like protrusions wound their way up the Pokémon's back, culminating in a grey horn situated between the two stubby ears on top of its head. An even larger horn stood proudly in front of the first, shaped like a drill and situated where its nose should have been. Its thick arms smacked against its iron-hard chest, and it took up a battle stance as both it and Wigglytuff waited for Paul to call his Pokémon.

"Stand by for battle!" he shouted, tossing two PokéBalls onto the ground in front of him. The first PokéBall split open to reveal a large bird covered in steel-grey armour, the folds of its wings like knives as they opened up to show the scarlet under-feathers. Its three-clawed talons dug into and scratched the hard floor, and it tossed its head proudly, showing off the horn-like ridge rising up out of the rear of its head.

The second PokéBall opened up right next to the Skarmory that had just been summoned, and the Pokémon that came out of the ball was small enough that it probably could have saddled itself on its teammate's back; it was at least two feet smaller than the Flying-type, the majority of its body covered in short, sooty blue fur, only receding at the base of the Pokémon's claws, which were wickedly sharp and curved as well. There was a small yellow stone on its forehead, right between its tiny red eyes, and a crown of red feathers grew out of the top of its head, around its neck, under its ears, and even forming its tail.

"_Wii wii!_" hissed the Weavile, looking indifferently at the Rhydon standing opposite.

"Wigglytuff, use Hyper Voice!" Neesha shouted, and Wigglytuff seemed to double in size instantly as it sucked in air to use for its attack.

"Weavile, Skarmory, cancel the sound with Screech and Metal Sound!" Paul barked. Weavile let out a hideous, ear-splitting noise between its fangs, and Skarmory scraped the tips of its wings against the hard steel that covered its torso. Wigglytuff moaned and covered its delicate ears to try and stop the pain, but Paul's Pokémon continued their attack to the point that the entire square was clutching at their heads and shouting out in distress. Paul stuck his fingers in his ears, but gave no other sign for his Pokémon to stop, and soon Corey's Rhydon succumbed to the noise as well and bellowed in agony.

"Ice Shard!" he roared at Weavile, who shut its mouth and formed a glistening blue sphere in front of its claws. As Skarmory continued to hold its foes down with its Metal Sound, Weavile lobbed the orb through the air, clicking its tongue with fierce joy as it slammed into Rhydon and knocked the Drill Pokémon off its feet, crashing into the concrete beyond the wooden platform.

"Rhydon, get back in there!" Corey hissed. "And use Megahorn on that pesky Weavile!" Rhydon growled menacingly as its drill-horn started to glow with a pale green light, and it suddenly rushed to its feet and stampeded across the square, the pounding of its feet against the ground making tremors that bumped Weavile into the air every time. Rhydon lowered its head and threw itself at the Dark-type, who agilely jumped towards the moon, easily dodging the rampage and landing on the other side of Rhydon as the latter ran straight into a brick wall.

"Wigglytuff, knock Weavile flying with Rollout!" Neesha shouted, and Wigglytuff bounded forwards at once, curling itself up and speeding forwards in an arrow-straight path towards Weavile, who was caught unawares and thrown high into the sky with a pained howl.

"Skarmory, catch Weavile on the way down and use Steel Wing on Rhydon! Weavile, get ready for Ice Punch on that furball!" Paul snarled. Skarmory spread its wings wide, mercifully ending its horrendous Metal Sound attack – much to the relief and joy of the crowd of onlookers – and shot up like a bullet towards Weavile, who spread its limbs wide as it fell and used its feathers for drag. The Sharp Claw Pokémon fell lightly onto its fellow's back as it crowed and dove down towards the ground, its grey wings becoming engulfed in white light. Weavile stood up on Skarmory, its feathers blowing about, and curled one of its fists up as it shone with frost.

Just as Skarmory came within feet of the ground, Weavile hopped gracefully from its back and leapt at Rhydon, slamming its glittering clawed fist straight into the side of Rhydon's craggy face, the Drill Pokémon staggering sideways and crashing into the ground once more. Skarmory flicked its wings sideways as it flew it Wigglytuff, the glowing tips slicing along the Normal-type's flank and throwing it across the platform. Wigglytuff collapsed in a spread-eagled heap on the field, twitched twice, then slumped as it fell unconscious, and Weavile hit Rhydon with a cruel Night Slash to the stomach, rendering it unable to battle in a heartbeat.

"This battle is over," Paul muttered darkly, and, without a word of congratulations to either of his Pokémon, he returned them both to their PokéBalls. "Not that you two put up much of fight," he added nastily. But his head snapped around when, out of the blue, he heard a loud, steady round of applause coming from someone in the crowd. He pursed his lips and folded his arms, but Corey and Neesha seemed to know who the person was, because they looked knowingly at each other and recalled their Pokémon, moving over to stand next to Paul.

"Don't even _think_ you're flattering yourself," Corey whispered dangerously, digging his hands into the pockets of his pants. "You'll be getting your come-uppance soon enough. Then that smug look will be gone quicker than if you tasted a mouthful of ash."

Paul's face twitched uncontrollably with white-hot rage, and Corey noticed it, because he sneered and turned to face the crowd just as an elderly man stepped out from the front and made for the platform. He had a mohawk of silvery hair, thick eyebrows and a ridiculously oversized moustache that fell down the sides of his mouth and seemed to go on for a long time, finally stopping at the same level as his chest. He raised his hands dramatically, and the crowd fell into a hushed silence, wondering what was about to happen.

"I have seen your exploits, young Trainer," he boomed, his voice rough like sandpaper, "and they are most impressive! Talents such as yours have not been seen on Shamouti Island for many a long time, and certainly not at this most opportune of nights! People, behold this Pokémon Trainer!" he shouted to the crowd, who, as if on cue, started cheering and celebrating, much to Paul's bemusement.

"What _are_ you d—?" he began to ask.

"Don't let it get to your head… uh…" the old man said, turning to Corey and whispering, "what's his name?"

"Paul."

"Uh, right—Paul! You see, this festival needs a Pokémon Trainer to work, and we normally pick the first Trainer who arrives on the island! But there have been so many Trainers appearing this year, and so we've had a hard time finding the _right_ one," he explained, "so I entrusted Corey and Neesha—" he waved his hand at the couple, "to hold tryouts for the best Trainer here! You beat both of them in such an impressive fashion, and you seem to fit all the… _other_ qualities… that I was looking for, so I've decided that you will be that special Trainer!"

"I'm flattered, but no thanks," Paul muttered, turning away, but the man's arm lashed out and grabbed his.

"This isn't really something you can get out of," he said kindly, but there was no mistaking the undercurrent of danger in his voice; clearly, Paul was this festival's 'special Trainer' whether he liked it or not.

"Fine, I'll be your Trainer," he said ruefully.

"Then you're also cordially invited to the Legend Banquet!" he announced, to another chorus of cheers. "I'm Marius, the elder of Shamouti Island, and I'm also the one in charge of this festival!" he added cheerily. "This way to the banquet hall, Paul," he said formally, waving his hand towards a beaten path at the edge of the square. Paul hesitated, preferring to be alone right now, but he remembered the tone of Marius' voice earlier and decided against refusing the man again. He nodded, and allowed himself to be guided out of the square and up the winding path. Corey and Neesha watched the two males depart, then turned back to the audience, who were looking back at them expectedly.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Corey said loudly, grabbing Neesha's hands. "This is a festival, so let's get festive!" he shouted, jerking his head towards a group of musicians, who moved onto the platform and immediately started playing some upbeat music. He and Neesha started dancing on the platform-turned-stage, and the tourists and townspeople quickly joined in, making as much noise as they could as they resumed their celebrations.

* * *

Paul finished eating the orange pear he was holding between his fingers, carelessly tossing the core back onto the plate in front of him. He was quietly thankful to Marius that he'd been given a table all to himself; he needed some small piece of solitude on this bustling island, and between the packed ferry and the equally packed streets, he hadn't had a moment of peace all day long.

_What am I even doing here?_ he asked himself, allowing his eyes to wander around the hall. It was a wide, spacious area, dotted with stone pillars and small, round tables piled high with bowls of tropical fruits, platters of meats, loaves of bread and jugs of sweet juices. It was an open hall, and he could feel the wind blowing in from the outside, the breeze ruffling at his hair and his face. He impatiently drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for the first chance he could get to be able to leave the hall and lodge in the island's Pokémon Center for some sleep; sleep had slowly become a rare thing for him over the last couple of months, ever since he had left his home region of Sinnoh.

He was snapped out of his deep reverie by the haunting sound of a flute being played, and his eyes whizzed around the room to find the source of the noise. Suddenly, the torches lighting the hall were extinguished by some unseen means, and a pair of spotlights pointed beams of light at a raised stage at the front of the hall. Out from behind a passage in the side of the wall stepped a teenage girl, and it was she who was playing the strange melody, from an ocarina made out of seashell and stone.

She was a very slender girl, with large blue eyes that were in stark contrast to her reddish-brown hair, which fell behind her in two distinct tails that reached down to her back. Her sideburns fell down and brushed her shoulders, which were bare because she was dressed in a sleeveless teal shirt, and a long, flowing white dress with a red brim that stopped just below the knee. She was also wearing a white veil on top of her head, held in place by a wreath of wildflowers, and it reached even further down than her dress, almost reaching her yellow, open-toed shoes.

As she played, he could see, out of the corner of his eye, the other people who were gathered in the hall as they swayed to and fro, clearly moved by the tune she was playing. He turned his attention back to the girl, and snorted, unimpressed, as he shook his head and turned away, preferring to look at the ocean outside. He heard a flutter and a falter in her music, and he smirked to himself as he realised that she'd heard him, but she continued to play that same strange melody as if determined not to let him get to her.

Paul briefly glanced back to the stage, and he saw that the musician had started to dance while she was playing. Not that he considered it dance; to him, it looked like she was drunkenly tiptoeing back and forth, occasionally running to a spot only a few feet away before starting the whole mundane process again. He'd had enough, he decided, and so he stood up to leave.

As if on cue, the music suddenly stopped, and all eyes in the hall turned to Paul; he couldn't see them, but he could feel their stares burning into the back of his neck. He slowly turned his head around, and saw that the ocarina-girl was steadily walking towards him, placing the instrument in a cloth bag that she had slung over her shoulder. He turned away again, expecting some poor insults to be hurled his way, but all he heard was the sound of her footsteps as she finally reached him, and then there was silence.

He furrowed his brow; he wasn't expecting _that_. Slowly, carefully, he turned his head just enough so that he could glance at her out of the corner of his eye. Then, without warning, she leaned forward and planted her lips on his cheek for a quick kiss. He felt it and recoiled in shock, swinging around and his mouth half-open to shout at her, but Marius leapt up from his table some distance away and began applauding, where he was soon followed by the rest of the audience in the hall.

"Bravo, Melody! A wonderful performance, as always!" he boomed, and the girl nodded her head in thanks. "Paul, this is Melody, our Festival Maiden!" he said, introducing the two to each other.

"What the hell did you kiss me for?!" Paul demanded, his face livid and beet-red.

Marius blinked. "Why, it's nothing—" he began, but Melody stepped in front of the old man and glared at Paul.

"Hey, it's a part of the festival," she said fiercely, pointing her finger at him. "The festival maiden gives the Chosen One a kiss as part of his coronation. You should consider yourself lucky that I didn't slap you after trying to leave during my performance, you arrogant jerk! So don't flatter yourself by thinking that I gave you that kiss out of free will. But judging by how red your cheeks are, I'd say you were thinking just _that_!" she added with a haughty smirk, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows as Paul fumed.

"I must say, Paul, I haven't seen a Chosen One blush from this maiden's kiss for quite a while!" Marius chortled, trying to lift the sour mood of the moment and clapping a hand on Paul's shoulder. The latter's eye ticked. "Not since a young boy by the name of Ash Ketchum, if I recall!" he added, and the crowd laughed good-heartedly.

"_Ash Ketchum_…_?_" Paul whispered through his teeth, and Marius backed away when he saw the young man's hands shake as they turned into white-knuckled fists. "_Ash Ketchum…_" He clenched his jaw and gave Melody a murderous stare before turning on his heel and storming out of the hall, muttering inaudible curses as he left a shocked silence in his wake.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. A Part To Play

**CHAPTER 2 – A PART TO PLAY**

* * *

"_Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress." ~ Mahatma Gandhi_

* * *

Paul marched along the winding road back to the centre of town, his hands stuffed firmly in his pockets and distaste etched on every feature of his face. He barged senselessly past the children in his way, ignoring their wails and the insults that their parents hurled at him. And all the while, his head was full of fiery outrage and hidden contempt at what he'd just had to endure in the Banquet Hall twenty minutes earlier.

_How dare that girl talk to me like that?! _he scowled. _'_Don't flatter yourself by thinking that I gave you that kiss out of free will!'_…what a ridiculous joke! And the nerve of her even to kiss me in the first place! That girl's just lucky there were so many people around, or she'd have had to answer to my Pokémon for that stunt… then we'll see who goes red in the face…_ he sneered, but the brief display of happiness quickly disappeared.

_Blushing, ha! Now _that_ is ridiculous,_ he seethed, kicking at a broken bird-mask lying on the ground. The wood splintered and fell apart, and Paul shook his head wildly to try and clear it, but it did nothing to calm his anger, so he continued to stride along the footpath. _It's not just that girl, it's the old man as well; they're both deluded! I wasn't blushing at all… I was ready to knock her out, that's what it was! Chosen One… what a pointless role…_

But as his thoughts turned to Marius' last comment, the familiar tension in his hands forced them into fists, and he quickly rounded into an alley behind a row of stalls, snatching up a thin strip of metal about the same size and shape as a baseball bat. Taking a deep breath, he held the pole with white fists and swung it with all his might into the brick wall to his side, grimacing as he felt the shock of the blow pounding through the muscles in his arms.

"_WHY_—_DOES_—_HE_—_HAVE_—_TO_—_BE_—_EVERY_—_WHERE_—_I_—_GO_—?!" he roared, smashing the pole into the red wall with every word. "_WHY_—_MUST_—_HIS_—_MEMORY_—_STAY—IN_—_MY_—_LIFE_—_FOR—EVER_—?!" The rod snapped in two as he bashed it into the bricks, and it left Paul panting for breath as he held the broken piece of metal in one hand, the other half clanging onto the ground. After a few moments, he stared at the shattered beam still clutched between his fingers, and with a quiet curse he threw it onto the concrete to join the other piece. He drew his fist back, focusing himself as he readied to throw it into the bricks instead, but out of nowhere he heard a female voice cry out his name.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" shouted Melody, running into the alley after seeing – and hearing – him from the street. "Sure, just run out of your own ceremony without a word! It's not like we're gonna miss you; it's not like we still need to finish anything!" she shrieked, her face screwed up in anger as she advanced on him.

"Oh, go tell someone who cares," he hissed, still a little out of breath from before as he turned coldly away.

"Hey, don't you turn away from me!" Melody roared, her hand hooking onto his jacket and spinning him back around in her direction. "This is the only week in the year that we have to celebrate, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let one cocky little punk like you ruin it for the thousands of people who actually came here to enjoy themselves!"

"Well you should have picked someone who '_actually came here to enjoy themselves_'," Paul retorted, in a high-pitched imitation of Melody's voice at the end. "I didn't come here for any festival. And I certainly didn't come here to get verbally abused by some uppity brat wearing a wedding veil, either."

"So you came here to insult us all, did you?!"

"I came here for my own reasons; I don't have to share them with you!" he countered, raising his voice above hers.

"Sharing or not, you're still the Chosen One for this festival!" Melody shouted. "And that means playing your part! I've got _my _part to play, Marius has _his_ part to play, and you've got _your_ part to play, so deal with it!" she seethed, pushing him in the chest. "Get your head out of your—!"

"You're not really doing anything to make me _want_ to go back to that dinner any more than when I left," he sneered. "If you're going to convince me to join you all, you're going to have to do a lot better than what you're saying now."

Melody half-opened her mouth, a witty remark on her tongue, but she held it back as she realised his cunning logic. "Fine," she snapped, turning around and gesturing with a crook of her finger. "Follow me, and I'll tell you about the festival. I'm sure it'll persuade you to stay," she said seriously, and with that she walked to the edge of the alley and tapped her sandal impatiently against the ground, waiting for him to follow.

"It had better," Paul muttered, an irksome look on his face as he trudged up to stand next to her. "What's so important about this stupid festival anyways? It's just a big bunch of moronic tourists dancing around like Beedrill in spring," he noted, crossing his arms and looking coolly at his new tour guide.

"The Legend Festival started a long time ago, before anyone on this island can even remember," she began, leading them down the street they had both come from and weaving through small clusters of people. "We not only celebrated the fertility of the local islands, but we also celebrated the Water's great Guardian, because its protection kept the people of Shamouti Island safe from danger."

"Water's Guardian?" Paul snorted. "Sounds like superstition."

"Well, back when it was first conducted, it was a lot more wholesome and traditional than what it is now," she admitted. "The tourism industry provides a lot for Shamouti, but we've had to, sadly, sacrifice some of our culture to keep things running smoothly nowadays." She paused to stop as a flock of mask-wearing children ran past, excitedly waving their arms up and down as though they were wings, and she giggled as they scampered around. "That's not to say it's not a good thing to see so many people enjoying themselves, either," she added with a smile.

"Could we just skip to the part where I'm supposed to like this festival?" Paul barked irately, rolling his eyes, and the smile slid from Melody's face faster than water off a cliff-face.

"No, we can't skip ahead," she growled, "because you've got to _understand_ what this is all about! So, the finest musician on the island would perform a song to celebrate the Water's Guardian, and on the shortest day of the year – which is tomorrow, this year – a specially selected hero, namely our _Chosen One_, would travel to the three islands south of Shamouti Island, to collect the treasures on each one!"

"Treasures…?" Paul repeated, his head briefly jerking upwards at the mention of the word. "…What kind of treasures?" he asked, and, although he couldn't see because her back was to him, Melody smirked as she knew that his curiosity had been aroused.

"There's one treasure on each of the three islands," she explained, snatching a toffee apple from a nearby street stall when the vendor was looking the other way. She handed him the apple and continued, "Each one is about the size of that apple. There's the fire treasure on Fire Island, to the east; there's the lightning treasure on Lightning Island, to the west; and in the middle of those two, you can find the ice treasure on—"

"Don't tell me… Ice Island?" Paul said sarcastically, sniffing the treat once before hurling it over his shoulder. "Can't you people come up with some original names for your islands? All I've seen in the Orange Islands are islands that have to do with – ironically enough – oranges!"

"Why else do you think they're called the _Orange_ Islands, you idiot?" she grunted, throwing up her hands in defeat. "It'd be pretty stupid if we called them the Pineapple Islands, or the Eggplant Islands, now wouldn't it?! Geez, the Chosen One is meant to be _smart_, but I don't see how you fooled Marius into believing that _you_ are," she added bitingly, grinning when she heard Paul growl between his teeth behind her.

"Again, not helping your people's chances of getting their '_Chosen One_' back in time for the festivities," he snarled. "And for that matter, what's the point of having a Chosen One, anyways?! Surely any idiot could just take a boat over and get the treasures himself!"

"But that way, we wouldn't have just the one idiot who stands out above the rest!" Melody replied, in a honey-sweet voice dripping with sarcasm as she turned her head. Paul pursed his lips in anger, possibly imagining all the different ways to injure her without being noticed in a public place, but he kept silent as he impatiently waited for her explanation. "The Chosen One is foretold in the legend of Shamouti Island. Hence why it's called the Legend Festival! Are you… are you starting to see the connections here, now?" she asked, using the tone one would when addressing a five-year-old.

"I'm no stranger to sarcasm, so just get to the point," he growled.

"Gladly!" she huffed, marching briskly down the street again. "There's a legend, in a stone temple right on the other side of this island, which foretells of a great disturbance in the balance of nature. When this imbalance occurs, a great catastrophe will threaten to destroy the world, but the legend also foretells of the appearance of a Chosen One; a great Pokémon Trainer who would unite the three treasures, and, with the help of the Water's great Guardian, tame the Beast Of The Sea. Oh," she added, "the Beast Of The Sea is basically this underwater current that runs through this part of the Orange Islands."

"So… the Chosen One would be a Pokémon Trainer that was prophesised to save the world from destruction?"

"You got it," she said brightly, turning a corner, and the two found themselves back in the square where Paul had battled Corey and Neesha earlier. "It's pretty funny, actually…" she giggled, and Paul turned his head as she slowed to a stop.

"What is it now?" he grumbled.

"The legend said all along who the Chosen One would be, and no-one ever figured it out until he came along a few years ago," she muttered, her eyes becoming slightly unfocused. "It even gave us his name! Can you believe that?" she laughed, but Paul didn't seem to get the humour, so she went on. "We'd always thought it was a bit of a doomsday saying, because it said; '_Though the Water's great Guardian shall rise to quell to fighting, Alone its song will fail. Thus the earth shall turn to ash._'"

"Thus the earth shall turn to ash…?" he snorted.

"Yeah, we always used to believe that the world would be engulfed in flames or something," Melody shrugged, looking over at the platform in the centre of the square, where Corey and Neesha were leading a collection of partners performing the tango. "But the Chosen One was actually a Trainer called Ash! The earth turned to ash, but ash was really Ash Ketchum! And I gotta say, he fitted the bill of a Chosen One, too," she said excitedly, swinging around to face Paul, but she blinked when she saw a flash of raw fury sweep over his face.

"What's wrong with _you_?" she asked, a little too callously.

"_Ketchum…_" he spat, his expression contorted with anger as he turned to look the other way. Melody frowned and marched around to stand in front of him, arms folded as she leant into his line of vision and blocked his way out of the square.

"Hey, I said what's wrong! Didn't you hear me?!" she shouted provokingly, but she stopped short when she saw Paul's eyes swivel around to meet hers, focusing on her like a laser beam. His arm whipped up from his side, and in the blink of an eye his hand clamped down on Melody's arm with a grip of iron, making her exclaim in surprise and anger as she felt his fingers digging in.

"_Don't_—" he pulled her towards him, grabbing her chin roughly with his other hand, "—_you ever compare me to that name again…_" he hissed, his voice like sizzling meat. Melody's face trembled, almost feeling the hatred coming out of the boy, and he gave her another contemptuous glare before he tossed her aside, sending her crashing onto the hard stone tiles. "I'm _nothing_ like him…" he growled, giving no sympathy to Melody as she pushed her torso up off the ground.

"You're right…" she mumbled, picking herself up and fixing the bag slung across her body. "You're not like Ash at all!" she shrieked, and Paul's mouth twitched in disgust. "You're just a mean, arrogant bully! Ash was the real Chosen One, and he lived up to it! He ran straight into trouble without thinking twice, but you just like causing trouble! He's capable of being a nice guy! He even fought the Legendary Bird Pokémon to try and save the world—" she argued, but she stopped and smirked when Paul's head jerked upwards and turned towards her.

"What did you just say?" he whispered, walking to her and stopping a step or two away. "Legendary Bird Pokémon?"

"That's right. The three guardians of the treasures are all Legendary Pokémon," she told him, another haughty smirk forming on her lips. "Moltres, who protects the sphere of Fire; Articuno, who protects the sphere of Ice; and Zapdos, who protects the sphere of Lightning. You didn't just think that you'd be able to get your hands on the treasures like they were pieces of fruit at market, did you?" she laughed bitterly.

"Is that why you don't have any idiot going after them?" Paul muttered. "You've got three flying feather-dusters playing guard?!" he yelled with a cruel laugh, his voice echoing around the square. The music slowly shuddered to a stop, and so did all forms of festivity as well, as the townspeople swung around to see the person who had just insulted the bird Pokémon. Melody slowly began to back away from Paul as the small crowd closed in, but he stood firm as the mob began to form a ring around him.

"What gives you the right to insult our traditions?!"

"Moltres could reduce you to cinders without any effort at all if it heard you call it a feather-duster!"

"Who are you to mock a Legendary Pokémon?!"

"I'm the Trainer who has to supposedly get their treasures," Paul growled, his eyes sweeping around as the crowd immediately fell silent. He grunted a laugh at the looks of shock over their faces, and he strode forwards to leave, pushing aside those who didn't move out of his way. "Now get back to your mundane celebrations and don't question me again," he hissed over his back, the stunned silence continuing even as Melody awkwardly weaved through to the edge of the crowd and followed Paul down the street.

"You sure know how to charm a crowd," she muttered darkly, a frown plastered on her face.

"I don't need to impress people I don't care about," he said simply, casting a lazy eye at her as she kept pace beside him. "Why do you think I'm not trying to impress you?" he added, and Melody's mouth fell open in indignant anger as he faced forwards and started to walk faster.

"Hey, listen here, you twerp," she snarled, jogging ahead and rounding on him. "You're part of this festival whether you like it or not, so you'd better get used to it now. We can do this the easy way or the hard way; it's up to you."

"What could you possibly do to make things hard for me?" Paul drawled, raising an eyebrow at her. "You're not particularly threatening—" he looked her up and down, "in any way imaginable."

"Who said I'd be the one?" she smirked. "Marius may be an old man, but he's used to getting what he wants. And when he doesn't get what he wants… well, let's just say he changes it to suit what he wants," she explained, an evil glint in her eyes, and Paul shifted uncomfortably on the spot. It took a whole minute of unnerving silence before Paul spoke up again, and he made sure to pick his next words carefully.

"Fine," he said, "but how I get the spheres is up to me, okay?"

* * *

"Melody!" hissed Marius, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she and Paul emerged from the darkness outside the banquet hall. "Where have you been?! I've had to entertain these people for more than half an hour!" He waved a hand across the hall, and Melody saw a room full of disgruntled tourists impatiently looking her way. She also noticed that there seemed to be a few empty seats that hadn't been there when Paul had stormed away earlier in the night.

"What did you entertain them with?" she muttered back. "Did you tell them one of those boring seafaring stories of yours?"

"I had to tell them four!"

"That explains a lot," she giggled.

"They just don't understand the experiences of a sailor!" he said fiercely. "I've never been so uncomfortable at a Legend Festival in my life! Now hurry up and finish the ceremony so we can move on! That includes you too, boy!" he added to Paul, who turned his eyes up at the ceiling and nodded his head absent-mindedly. "Remember, this is the centrepiece of the festival!"

"Come on, Marius, since when have I ever let the tourists down?" Melody winked, snapping her fingers at Paul. "Don't just stand there; go and sit in your seat while I perform the last part of the ceremony!" she instructed bossily. Paul remained silent and stalked back to his seat nearest the stage, helping himself to a pear as Marius ushered Melody onto the stage.

_Okay, Melody, just get through this thing and you'll never have to put up with… him—_ she shot him a nasty look that he ignored, _again. And then the festival can go ahead like it always has…_ she thought reassuringly, taking her ocarina out of the cloth bag and putting it up to her mouth. Within moments, the hall was filled with the sound of beautiful music, and the previously restless hall settled down into a gentle lull as they enjoyed the sound of her playing again.

After a minute or so, Melody let the last piercing note ring out from her instrument, tucking the flute back into her bag as she hopped down from the stage and moved towards Paul, who drummed his fingers on the surface of the table and looked out at the tiny lights dotting the landscape of the island. "Hear ye all!" she called out, her voice much more impassioned and dramatic to fit her role. "From the trio of islands, ancient spheres shall you take! For between life and death, all the diff'rence you'll make!"

"Hmph…"

A nerve twitched in Melody's temple, but with a forced smile she grabbed Paul's hand and lifted him to his feet. With the eyes of the entire hall upon them, she took a quick breath and planted a kiss on his cheek, just like she had a little under an hour before. Paul purposefully looked away, a small tick in his jaw as she moved away, and Melody felt a hot flush of anger at the tiny expression.

"O Chosen One," she continued, her voice a little rougher than it had just been, "You must climb to the shrine to right what is wrong, and the world will be healed by the Guardian's song!" The crowd burst into applause as she rose her arms towards the roof, and even she allowed a small smile to escape her. Paul however, did nothing but glance briefly in her direction, appearing to be interested in her ear as the applause continued.

"At least show some positivity about your role," she hissed at Paul, her voice going unheard by the other people in the hall, who had stood up and were filing out to enjoy the rest of the night's entertainment. "Don't be such a grumpy little Wartortle…" she added, reaching down towards the table, snatching up a Magost berry from a nearby platter and cramming it into her mouth as she turned away.

"When you know me, you can judge me," she heard him say flatly. By the time she dropped the pith back onto the table and looked around, he had disappeared into the exiting crowd that was making its way back down the road towards the square. She stood up at once, wondering how he'd manage to slip away so quietly, but then she frowned.

_Like he'd ever let anyone know if he was going anywhere,_ she realised. _I wonder what that guy's problem is. He could learn a lot just by having some fun… he looks like the kind of person who'd only crack a smile if you pumped him full of Sitrus wine at a party…_

"Great work with the song, Melody!" said a female voice behind her, breaking through her bitter thoughts, and she spun around when a pair of hands slapped down on her shoulders.

"Carol!" she exclaimed, seeing her older sister standing in front of her. Carol was a woman in her late teens – or possibly her early twenties – with a shock of short mahogany hair, her face framed by a pair of feather-like earrings. She, like Marius, was dressed in the traditional festival robe, which was simply a plain white with red at the collar and the ends of the sleeves.

"We were wondering where you'd gone off to!" Carol smiled. She looked at a spot over Melody's shoulder and then looked back at her, a wry smirk on her face. "So, who's the Chosen One?" she asked, and Melody blinked.

"Umm…" she frowned as she tried to remember hearing his name. "I think Marius called him Paul right before he stormed off…" she shrugged.

"Paul, eh? He's pretty cute, isn't he?" Carol giggled, nudging her sister in the ribs. Melody nodded absent-mindedly, not really registering the words for a few moments, but when they did, she jumped backwards with a shout.

"Carol?! Ewww! No way! He's a total jerk!" she cried out, shuddering at the thought. "You saw the way he acted during my performance!" she added, but Carol laughed again and waved her hand dismissively.

"Alright, alright. Sorry for bringing it up," she groaned. "But he's this year's Chosen One, so even if you wanna throw him off a cliff, you two are gonna have to get along."

"I know, it's for the tourists," Melody droned, her shoulders sagging. She looked around again, and grunted in surprise as she realised that she and Carol were the only ones left in the hall; apparently, everyone else had either gone to the centre of town for more festivities, or they had gone to a hotel for sleep. The thought of sleep trickled into Melody's thoughts, and she gave a huge yawn as a wave of fatigue hit her full-on.

"Geez, it was just one song and dance!" Carol jested, throwing an arm over Melody's shoulders. "It can't have tired you out that much! Come on, let's go back into town and grab some Cinnabar Volcano Burgers! I know you love exotic food!" she offered, giving her a playful shake. Melody considered the proposal for a moment or two, but then she shook her head and batted Carol's arm away.

"No, I've just had a long day, I think…" she muttered, rubbing at her eye. "I feel really drained… I'm just going to head back home and get some—_some sleep—!_" she yawned again, almost falling asleep on her feet as she tried to force the drowsiness out of her body.

Carol sighed, but shrugged and smiled as she gave her sister a wink. "Okay, but if you change your mind, you'll find me with Maren, down by the harbour in my boat, alright?" she said, giving Melody a quick hug.

"Yeah, but don't hold your breath for me," she sniggered.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	3. No Man Is An Island

**CHAPTER 3 – NO MAN IS AN ISLAND**

* * *

"_There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden __treasure__." – Mark Twain_

* * *

Paul sat up from the lounge chair he'd been sitting on, running a hand through his hair as he trudged towards the nearby bathroom. Running the sink tap, he liberally splashed his face with the freezing cold water and looked at his tired reflection in the mirror, frowning at the circles of black under his eyes, and the lines on his face. _Another sleepless night,_ he thought angrily, letting the water gurgle down the basin as he marched back into the main part of his hotel room.

"Why can't I sleep?!" he asked himself, snatching up his indigo jacket and stuffing his arms through the sleeves.

_It's because you're afraid of what you'll see in your nightmares,_ sneered a small voice in the back of his head. _You're scared of your own subconscious… you're afraid of yourself, even._

"I am _not_ _scared_," he seethed through gritted teeth, pocketing his room key and clipping his six PokéBalls to their clasps. "I am _not weak_. I'll catch these three Legendary Pokémon, and then I'll be the strongest Trainer there is."

_But will you be strong enough to face your fear?_ asked the voice.

"I won't fear anything once I capture those birds," he muttered, shaking his head to rid himself of the voice and walking out the door.

* * *

Melody stood in the cabin of a small motorboat, waiting somewhat impatiently as her friend Maren poured them both a morning cup of cocoa. Maren was a young woman about the same age as Carol, with a mess of long moss-green hair that she had tried to hide underneath a dark blue hat spun backwards, even though there was a spiky bang poking out through the clip. Despite the chilly weather, she was wearing a red tank top to match her eyes, which was half-hidden beneath an open fluoro-orange jacket, and orange pants.

"Alright, here you go! A nice morning pick-me-up," Maren smiled, handing Melody a steaming mug.

"Thanks, Maren!" she said sweetly, taking a deep drink of the searing brown liquid. Maren shook her head, wondering how someone could drink something so hot without gagging on it, but she laughed at the thought of Melody spraying it all over her clothes. She was dressed in a black-and-pink sleeveless top adorned with several necklaces, and a pair of long form-fitting jeans, the whole ensemble topped off with an odd, pale-green beret over her head.

_And the girl wonders why she can't find a boyfriend, dressed like that,_ Maren thought, rolling her eyes. "So what are you gonna be doing today?" she asked, partly out of curiosity, partly out of conversation, and partly to stop her from burning her throat on the cocoa.

"Ahh…" Melody sighed, getting her breath back after draining nearly half the drink in one gulp. "Let's see… there's the festival, the festival, and… the festival! So I think I might just, I don't know, enjoy the festival!" she scoffed. "Honestly, I haven't got a clue what to do. I've done my part of the ceremony; I've got to wait for that Paul guy to nab the treasures, so I guess I just have to sit around on my butt until he brings them back."

"Why don't you go with him?" Maren offered, taking a swig of her own cocoa. "It'll beat doing nothing, and you can make sure that he gets them as quickly as possible. That way, you can go back to doing… whatever it is you kids do for fun these days," she added, performing a bad impersonation of Marius with her latter point.

"Are you serious?!" Melody exclaimed angrily. "Have you _met_ that guy?! He's a total—a total _jerk-wad_!" she shouted, trying to come up with an civil word to describe him.

"Then he's not a prick," Maren giggled.

"He's that too!" Melody huffed, sticking her tongue out in disgust at the thought of him. "_Yuck—_I don't wanna spend another minute around that guy," she added sourly, and Maren laughed again as she looked back at the harbour.

"Well, you'd better get over that attitude of yours, because he's coming this way," she muttered, and Melody's head snapped around to see Paul walking down the pier towards the boat, just like Maren had said.

"Great. Just great," she groaned. "Maren, you've gotta get me out—" she began, but as she turned back around to look at her friend, she saw Maren jump off the port side and onto the adjacent boat, running at full speed in the other direction; clearly, she wanted Melody and Paul together on her boat. "Does everyone here have some agenda against me or something?!" she howled, scowling at her mug as she slammed it down onto the table.

"Who are you talking to?!" Paul shouted venomously, standing next to the boat's tether on the pier with his arms folded. Melody silently cursed him and walked out onto the deck, eyes narrowed maliciously as she, too, crossed her arms.

"Now what do _you_ want?" she asked haughtily.

"I need a boat to Fire Island," he answered, moving forwards and setting a foot onboard. "This must be your boat, so you can take me there."

"You don't know how many things are wrong with what you just said," she hissed, kicking his foot away from the boat, and he stared icy daggers at her as he nearly lost his balance. "One, I'd rather you had to _swim_ all the way to Fire Island after your little spat last night. Two, this isn't my boat. And three, I wouldn't take you if you were Ash-freaking-Ketchum!" she shrieked, waving three fingers in front of his face.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not him," Paul growled, his voice like gathering thunder, as he pushed Melody backwards and barged his way onto the boat. "And if this isn't your boat, then why are the ignition keys lying next to your mug?" he asked smugly, pointing at the table in the cabin.

"Who said it's _my_ mug?!"

"You did, by asking that question in such a defensive tone," he sneered. "Now, are you going to take me to Fire Island or not?"

"Not," Melody snapped stubbornly, turning her back on him and marching into the cabin. "I'm not going anywhere with you. And there's nothing that's gonna change my mind, so don't even try it."

"There are probably a hundred people who could take me to Fire Island in less time and with less irritation than you," retorted Paul. "As it is, you're the only one _in the harbour_ at the moment, and I want to get there as quickly as possible. Don't flatter yourself by thinking I picked you _out of free will,_" he added nastily.

_Smarmy prick,_ Melody thought, in half a mind to turn her thoughts into words. _Why don't you just crawl back to wherever it is you came from… hang on—_ her head jerked upwards as a thought came to her, _if I get him to the islands, then he'll be out of here even quicker than if he had to wait around for someone else! Plus, I'd be able to see the look on his face when he sees the Legendary Pokémon—_ she smiled evilly, _that'd be perfect!_

"Tell you what," she said in honeyed tones, her back still turned to him, "I'll take you to Fire Island, purely out of the goodness of my heart. But only on the condition that I get to go up to the shrine with you," she added, swinging around and smirking at the frowning boy standing in front of her. "What have you got to lose?"

"My temper…" Paul muttered, tucking his hands into his pocket as he summed her up with his eyes. "Fine," he said at last, moving towards the prow of the boat and folding his arms. "You'd better get moving then, shouldn't you?!"

"Sure, full speed ahead!" Melody replied brightly, quickly dropping her smirk and aiming a rude hand gesture at the back of his head. "You'd just better hope I don't throw you overboard along the way…" she muttered indignantly, as she snatched the keys, put them in the ignition, and listened to the boat as it roared to life.

* * *

Maren's boat chopped smoothly through the half-rough ocean waters, cutting a clean path through the waves as it bobbed up and down on its way towards Fire Island. Melody stood attentively at the wheel, lazily changing course by the occasional degree east or west to keep the island directly in front, but in doing so her eye was inadvertently drawn to Paul, who was standing resolutely at the prow. He stood leaning on the railing, his back hunched up around the back of his head as he looked out over the water, or possibly he was looking at the peak of Fire Island; she couldn't tell.

_Look at him,_ she thought menacingly, a tick of the nerve just below her eye. _He just does what he wants, says what he wants, and he expects people to just bend over backwards and live by it! He should be kissing the ground at my feet for doing such a huge favour for him, after the way he acted during my performance—! _she snorted to herself and tossed her head to the side, looking at a Paul-free stretch of ocean to her left. _Why am I even getting so angry over something like this, anyways?! There're plenty of jerks at my school, and they're a million times worse than this—foreigner—so why does he get to me so much?!_

At the boat's prow, Paul's sharp, calculating eyes scanned the landscape of the island drawing ever closer; he took note of the dull grey palm tree trunks that ringed the base of the mountain; the sharp, rocky beaches; the tiny ribbon of stone that was the staircase winding its way up the side of the island like a hideous scar; but the thing that drew his eye the most was the plateau at the mountain's peak.

_That looks like the perfect place for a Legendary Pokémon to hide,_ he thought to himself, his eyes narrowing. _With a name like Fire Island, it must have once been a volcano… so the inside of that island must be an old volcanic crater… Moltres must be down there somewhere… but how should I draw it out? I might have to let a couple of my Pokémon loose on the mountainside… that should flush it out with enough force to get it riled up… then all I have to do is bring it down, capture it and—_

"Paul!" shouted Melody, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to see her waving her hand about wildly whilst the other was tightly gripping the wheel. "Get out of the way! I need a perfect line of sight to land this boat, and you're blocking it! You _do _need me to get you to Fire Island, right?!" she asked, her voice blaring over the sound of the ocean and the motors.

Paul's mouth twitched into a contemptuous frown as he slowly paced towards the cabin, seemingly unaffected by the rocking of the boat and the stronger sprays of seawater that were hurled his way from the ocean. He wrenched the cabin door open and slammed it shut with such force that, for a moment, she thought it was about to fall off its hinges, but she was too occupied with landing the boat safely to think about it for more than a second.

"So we're clear…" he muttered poisonously, "I don't _need_ you for anything. If it weren't for this boat of yours, you wouldn't be worth the time of day to me."

Melody showed no sign that she heard his words, stinging her harder than even the fiercest of saltwater waves that were battering against the cabin windows, but she ripped her hands across the wheel harder than she needed to, and the boat swayed dangerously to one side as the hull slammed into a shallow line of rocks at the edge of the shore. She winced as she felt the cabin judder and creak, but she allowed herself to relax when the boat levelled and swayed gently in the ebb and flow of the waves.

She strode onto the deck, intending to throw the rope onto land and secure the boat, but she stopped in surprise when she saw the harness already set up, the taut line stretching from the railing to a large section of rock jutting out from the platform next to the vessel. Her head whirled left and right to try and spot Paul, who she knew had set it up, but by the time she saw his head, it was – along with the rest of him – already making its way up the stone staircase leading to the shrine, having paced up the first thirty or so in just that short space of time.

"Hey!" she shouted, clambering onto the rocks and running towards the stairs. "Wait up! We had a deal!"

"I know," he replied loudly, still ascending the stairs with his back to her, "but if you're too slow to keep up, that's your own problem."

"If you get too far ahead, I might just give up and go back to Shamouti Island without you!" she challenged, her feet flying over the hardened slabs of stone as she reached the foot of the staircase. "You still need my boat, remember?! That little thing that makes me worth the time of day to you?!" she seethed, a flash of triumph going through her brain as he stopped and turned around, scowling at her from his platform seventy or so steps above.

"Like I care," he said coldly, waving her away with a casual flick of his hand. "Come or don't come. Either way, I'm still going to the peak. You can follow if you're able to keep pace with me, but you're probably better off not wasting your energy by trying."

"_Oh_, so you don't think I can get up there without slowing you down?!" she roared, stamping her way up the steps towards him with red fury in her eyes. "You might think you're all high and m—! What are you doing with _those_?!" she demanded, her eyes swivelling down to the two PokéBalls that Paul was holding in his hands.

"Well, I thought I'd send my Pokémon out and teach you a lesson, but then I realised I'd have no-one to pilot the boat back to Shamouti Island," he drawled sarcastically, rousing a look of fear and horror from Melody as she nearly stumbled on the stairs. "Don't worry about what I'm doing, and you'll be a lot better off," he warned, his eyes smouldering as he turned back to the steps and began to climb them again.

_Stupid girl…_ he thought, shaking his head as he listened to the dull rhythm of his shoes striking the stone. _She just can't help but get in the way, can she? Well, I'll be glad to be rid of her once I capture Moltres; I won't need a boat once I've got it to fly me to the other two islands…_

"You'll get yours, Paul, just you wait…" Melody muttered under her breath, her slim hands curling into fists as she marched up the steps after him. "Moltres is gonna set you in your place so fast, you won't know up from down."

* * *

"Oh my god…" groaned Melody, her shoulders slumped and her arms swinging limply with every step. "How do those guys _do_ this? On every island…?! My feet are killing me…" she wailed, wincing as her sandals scraped against the soles of her feet. She raised her head towards the top of the island to see how much longer she would have to keep walking, and she nearly fell backwards with exhaustion as she saw more than another hundred steps until the peak of the mountain.

"You're too unfit to be climbing a mountain," Paul shouted down to her, halfway between her and the top step. "Girls like you should stick to what they're good at, instead of doing things out of their depth."

"You sexist pig…!" she gasped, in half a mind to charge up the staircase and punch him squarely in the eye, but she hissed as she remembered the pain in her aching feet. She hung her head in defeat, reluctant to let his insult slide, but she perked up when she saw a pile of small stones lying loosely at the sides of the steps. "You're a Pokémon Trainer, Paul…" she cackled quietly, scooping up a huge handful of them and holding one in her cocked hand.

"So get ready for Melody's Rock Throw!" she shouted, hurling the rock as hard as she could up the mountainside, aiming for the back of his head. The stone whistled through the air as it flew, but it landed about five feet wide and twenty steps too far, and she frowned as she took a second rock and held it in her hand. "Hmm… Melody's attack missed… but not _this_ time—!" she lobbed the rock at him, this time finding a much closer mark, hitting the step right behind his back foot.

"_Still_ missed…" she muttered unhappily, snatching three more from her stockpile. "Try a Rock Blast!" she sneered, throwing them at Paul, and she cheered as one struck him in the left ear. "And it's super effective!" she shouted, watching as he recoiled from the impact and turned around. She returned his malicious stare with a glare of her own, but after little more than a moment he turned back to face the summit and climbed the last dozen steps to the top, leaving her to drop her remaining rocks and stagger up the stairs in pursuit.

_I can't miss Moltres appearing!_ she thought desperately, ignoring her feet as she clambered up to the peak. _I'd rather have sore feet than having to endure that smug jerk!_ She reached the top step and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the plateau at the top of Fire Island, completely devoid of any Legendary Pokémon, but she raised an eyebrow in confusion when she saw that the barren stretch of land was also devoid of Paul; he'd vanished.

"What in the…?" she whispered, moving across the flat ground towards another set of steps, this one a lot smaller than the previous one. She passed a stone pillar lying near the edge of the platform, when out of nowhere something banged against her legs and sent her falling onto the hard ground with a loud thud. Clutching at her head, she moved onto her back to see Paul standing over her with a cold smile on his face, apparently having tripped her from behind the pillar.

"Don't ever throw rocks at me again, or it won't be a harmless _trip_ next time," he hissed threateningly, cracking a bone in his neck as he turned away and walked towards the centre of the mountaintop. Melody glared at him from behind the hand pressing into her forehead, and she threw a stream of inaudible curses at his back before she got to her feet and walked gingerly to the centre of the plateau.

The centre of Fire Island itself was actually a hollow bowl, having once been the site of an active volcano which had slowly fizzled out as the magma sank below the ocean and cooled. Because of that, the inside of the mountain was an empty space that seemed to stretch down into the centre of the earth itself; it was so deep that it became black before the bottom could be seen. The only blemish on the otherwise seamless and featureless rim of the crater was a small platform leading towards the centre from the edge, and it was this platform that housed the shrine which Paul and Melody walked towards.

The shrine itself was little more than an intricate stone carving, shielded from the sky by a rustic stone roof, but Melody couldn't help but smile as she came close to it; the details in the stone were magnificent, in the shape of the legendary Moltres, the Titan of Fire. In the centre of the shrine, held firmly in Moltres' stone beak, was a glass sphere about the size of an orange that shone from within with a soft red glow, a curl of flames dancing about inside the orb with a life of its own.

"Isn't it beautiful…?" she whispered, all her hatred of Paul suddenly melting away as she stared at the masterpiece in front of her eyes. Unfortunately for her, he took one look at the treasure and snorted, unimpressed as he folded his arms and looked over the side of the platform into the crater. "They say that long ago – and I mean hundreds upon hundreds, maybe thousands of years – a woman from far away travelled to Shamouti Island, but she saw that it was overrun with evil and crime. So she went to each of the three barren islands south of Shamouti and placed one glass orb in the centre of each one, saying that they would keep the four islands pure and healthy."

"Sounds like a load of garbage if you ask me," Paul muttered nastily, still peering into the darkness below them.

"As time went on…!" she continued, her resentment of him quickly returning. "They say that the Legendary Pokémon appeared from within the orbs and made each island their home. Fire Island, Ice Island, Lightning Island… they all became fertile, and the waters around them became calm and fresh, inviting thousands of marine Pokémon to migrate there every year. Soon, Shamouti Island began to change as well, and the townspeople turned away from their stealing and their hatred to work together with each other and their Pokémon. They remembered the woman and what she did, so they created a shrine at the closest point on Shamouti to the three islands, saying that every year they would have a grand festival to give thanks to her for the gift she gave the lands."

"And—" she kneeled down and gestured towards Paul, who looked back only briefly, "that's why we have a special Trainer who is the Chosen One. The Chosen One is the Trainer who plays the role of the woman in ancient times. Of course, the tradition slowly changed from being female Pokémon Trainers to any Trainer, but the ideals are pretty much the same, so no-one really minds. It's all about giving thanks and being happy for being a community," she said warmly, resting her head on her shoulder as her eyes reflected the dancing flames in the Fire treasure.

"Giving thanks is a sign of weakness," Paul said bluntly, marching towards the shrine. "So is relying on others. The only person anyone can ever count on is themselves, and if that's not enough, then they're too weak," he added, taking a small pleasure from watching Melody clench her fists and her jaw. "If you're weak, then you train to be stronger. That's as simple as it gets, really."

"Then you're mistaken, and you're pitiful," she snapped, standing to her feet.

"Pitiful enough to be this island's Chosen One," he sneered mockingly, turning his head and prising the glowing treasure from its pedestal. He held the orb in his outstretched hand and walked past the shrine, standing at the very tip of the platform and barely a foot away from falling into the abyss. "Moltres!" he roared, his voice echoing into the black below. "I challenge you to a battle!"

"_Battle_?!" Melody screamed, running up next to him. "_Are you insane_?!"

"Just stay out of my way—!" he shouted, before there was a dull rumble from the ground beneath him. He smirked and slowly stepped backwards until he was safely on the platform and back in front of the shrine, but Melody raced right to the outer edge of the plateau in fear as the rumble grew to a thunderous tremor. _That's it… show yourself…!_ he thought excitedly, the hand not clutching the Fire treasure sliding onto his belt and taking a PokéBall from its clasp.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a deep, rattling drum from deep within the crater, and a column of orange flames erupted from the centre of the mountain, rising high into the sky with a gale of wind that tore Paul's jacket about his face as the heat hit him in waves. The flaming geyser slowly thinned, and Paul's eyes glinted fiercely as a rippling black shadow began to emerge from amongst the blaze, filling the air with the sound of crashing wing-beats and thunderous cries.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Eyes Of Fire

**CHAPTER 4 – EYES OF FIRE**

* * *

"_Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men." – Martha Graham_

* * *

"_Paul_?!" Melody screamed, turning her head to Paul as they stood at the edge of the platform, the column of fire in front of them beginning to disappear. "What on earth do you think you're doing?! You can't battle a Legendary Pokémon!" she added fearfully, but from what she saw of his expression, that was his exact intention, and she chose to cut her losses, running to the edge of the crater and half-hiding behind one of the pillars.

_Come out and fight…!_ Paul thought impatiently, his eyes glinting excitedly as the fire faded away, leaving a magnificent shape in its place.

Hovering in front of him, filling his vision, was the enormous figure of the Titan of Fire, Moltres. Two enormous yellow wings, their lower halves drenched in red-and-white flames, flapped in unison, scattering embers along the powerful currents of wind that they created, showering Paul with intense heat and throwing tiny shadows over his face. A scarlet beak poked out from the Pokémon's smooth face, two pointed eyes above it as a plume of fire buffeted about in the breeze, a rhythmic dance that was matched by Moltres' tail, which was aflame as well and three times the size of its head-crest.

_Here we go…_ he thought with a hardened stare, enlarging the PokéBall in his hand as he met Moltres' penetrating stare.

"Paul, don't do this!" Melody shrieked, running back towards him, but he ignored her.

"Stay out of my way!" he hissed, tossing the PokéBall onto the smooth stone next to him. "Rhydon, stand by for battle!" he barked, and the PokéBall split open with a white flash, revealing the metallic, armoured form of a Pokémon much the same as the one that Corey had used against him in the double battle the night before. The only difference between this Rhydon and the other one was that Paul's was slightly taller, and with a much larger drill-horn on its head, being a male.

"You can't battle Moltres!" Melody repeated wildly, moving around to stand in front of him and waving her arms in his face. "You're not a match for a Legendary Pokémon! Just take the Fire treasure and let's go back to Shamouti Island!"

"I said _stay out of my wa—_!" Paul roared, but he was cut off by a horrible voice that seemed to echo all around the dull rock of the mountaintop.

_LEAVE AT ONCE, CHILD!_

"Paul? Hey, Paul!" Melody shouted, snapping her fingers right over his nose. "Are you even _listening_ to me?! Call back your Rhydon!" she commanded, but Paul's eyes quickly hardened as he focused on her again.

"Didn't you hear that?!" he snapped, taking a step back to get her out of his face.

"Hear _what_?!" she asked angrily, a nerve twitching in her temple.

"Moltres just told me to leave…" he muttered, furrowing his brow.

"I didn't hear anything, but if it told you to leave, then you should leave!" she cried, whipping around in fright as Moltres gave a rattling shriek from above its shrine. "Oh, boy… it sure looks angry…!" she muttered, backing away towards the pillar that she'd hidden herself behind earlier.

_I SAID LEAVE, BOY!_

Paul narrowed his eyes at Moltres, realising that the Pokémon was speaking to him telepathically, but he just sneered and dropped the Fire treasure into his jacket pocket. "Not without you in a PokéBall," he muttered under his breath, standing resolutely even as the Titan flapped its magnificent wings and tilted its head towards the heavens.

_What the heck is he thinking?! _Melody thought, feeling her hands tremble as she watched him facing Moltres. _Moltres is going to destroy him…!_ she added, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open in shock as she saw an orange-red glow emanating from the Fire-type's beak. "Paul, it's going to attack! Get out of the way!" she screamed.

_Not on your life, girl,_ he thought brusquely, folding his arms as Moltres' eyes glinted. "Rhydon, stay firm!" he shouted to his Pokémon, who grunted and nodded its head just as Moltres sent a spiral of flames through the air, smashing into the Drill Pokémon's stomach. Rhydon winced as the searing blaze licked at its tough hide, but it broke the attack off by chopping an arm through the fire, sending embers dropping lazily onto the ground around it.

"You call yourself a Legendary Pokémon with a Fire Spin like that?!" Paul taunted, clenching a fist. "Ancientpower!" he commanded, and his Rock-type opened its jaws wide, forming a huge, shimmering sphere of white energy in the air in front of them, before swinging around and smacking the ball with its sturdy tail. The Ancientpower flew towards Moltres with incredible speed, but with an almost lazy flap of its wings, the Flame Pokémon climbed high into the sky and easily avoided the attack, leaving Paul to simmer below on the mountaintop.

_YOU CANNOT WIN!_

Moltres rose even higher into the sunlit sky, scorching Rhydon with another Fire Spin attack that surrounded its foe in a spinning cage of flames, and the latter howled in pain as it felt itself being slowly cooked from inside its prison. As the Pokémon cringed, Melody's eyes shimmered with tears of worry, but Paul was unflinching. A gust of sea breeze blew over the sides of the volcano, and Paul, seemingly waiting for it, snapped into action.

"Stone Edge!" he roared, narrowing his eyes as the wind buffeted the flames enclosing his Pokémon. Rhydon's eyes glowed to match the sky above its head, and three slivers of icy blue light orbited around its body, becoming thin rings that turned into a myriad of sickle-sharp stones with a loud crunching noise. With a cry, the Rock-type pushed its arms towards its foe, destroying the Fire Spin and launching the jagged stones. They whistled point-first as they homed in on Moltres and shattered themselves on its wings, the Legendary Pokémon groaning with pain as they tore at its feathers.

"_Koohhhhhh!_" screeched Moltres, its rage seeming to explode in the air, because a moment later it was wreathed in thick streams of white light that coursed over its entire body. With a powerful flap of its wings, it sent Rhydon's Stone Edge hurtling back towards Paul, who was forced to leap out of the way to avoid being torn to shreds by his own Pokémon's attack. As the stones splintered into the hardened ground, Paul nimbly turned his dive into a roll, springing back to his feet in an instant to see Moltres high in the air and about to dive.

_Sky Attack…_ he realised, instantly spotting the attack after ordering one of his own Pokémon – his Murkrow, now a Honchkrow – to use the same technique countless times during his past journeys. "Iron Tail!" he yelled to Rhydon, pointing straight at Moltres, just as the Fire-type shrieked and pinned its body forwards, accelerating towards the ground with frightening pace.

"_Rhaaai-don!_" growled the Drill Pokémon, planting its sturdy feet as its tail lit up with a piercing white shine. As Moltres came closer to dive-bomb Rhydon, Melody shrank back towards the edge of the plateau again, her fingers shaking as she tried to cover her eyes, but she slammed her hands into her brow as the two Pokémon hit; Rhydon swung itself around to bring its tail whipping around, but the assault seemed to do nothing more than slow down the might of Moltres, who carried through and knocked its foe onto its back.

_LEAVE THIS ISLAND!_

Paul gritted his teeth as he saw his Pokémon hit the ground, feeling the Fire treasure jiggle in his pocket as he turned around to face Moltres again, the Titan hovering above its shrine in the centre of the mountaintop. "I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for!" he bellowed, his purple fringe dancing over his eyes. Moltres narrowed its eyes at the Trainer, unimpressed, before tilting its head towards Rhydon and blasting a five-pointed star of fire at it. The Fire Blast sizzled the Pokémon's hide and exploding against its armour, and a cloud of black smoke hid it from view, but nothing could hide the sound of its unconscious body falling onto the stone with a loud thud.

"Rhydon, no!"

Paul's mouth fell open for the slightest of seconds, taken completely by surprise as he heard Melody shout the words, about-facing to watch her running into the smoke to try and tend to his Rhydon. _What does she think she's doing?!_ he wondered, furious, as he took Rhydon's PokéBall from its clasp on his belt and aimed it into the dark, billowing cloud. "Return!" he barked, his gaze returning to Moltres as the pencil-thin beam of red light pierced through the smoke and returned the fallen Pokémon back to its PokéBall.

_Let's see how you like _this_ Pokémon…_ he thought smugly, replacing the PokéBall in his hand with a fresh one.

_STOP!_

"What's the matter; scared?!" he snapped, his lip curling as he saw the legendary Moltres' eyes narrow to slits. But the sneer vanished a split second later, because Paul saw the Titan of Fire open its beak wide with a growl, a deep reddish glow rising out of the depths of its throat. _You won't… I can tell…_ he told himself, keeping the PokéBall clutched tightly in his grasp as he folded his arms and stared Moltres dead in the eye.

A flurry of movement caught the corner of his eye, and he lowered his eyes to see Melody standing right in front of him, her arms thrown out to the sides as if to shield him from Moltres' attack. "Get out of my way, girl!" he seethed, grabbing her arm, but she refused to budge – or even to look him in the eye – as she kept herself as a barrier between he and the Legendary Pokémon.

_SO BE IT!_

"Move!" Paul hissed, cutting the toe of his shoe against the line of Melody's shinbone.

"Ack!" she howled, tipping sideways just as Moltres began to loose its Fire Spin, and Paul threw his arm around her side and tackled her to the ground. He grimaced as he felt the jolt of his knees hitting the hard ground, and his eyes began to water at the extreme heat that was singing the hair on the back of his neck, but he stayed as low as he could, trying to ignore Melody's whimpers from underneath his arm. As soon as the heat came, though, it disappeared, leaving the stench of burning hair in the air as Paul scrambled to his feet and left Melody to lie, in shock, on the ground.

"Swampert, Whirlpool!" he roared, hurling the PokéBall in his hand towards the shrine.

The PokéBall split open with a flash of white light, and a huge, blue Pokémon appeared from the light and thundered onto the ground. It looked somewhat like a cross between a frog and a human, with a huge, fan-like black tail rising vertically from its rear, and two similarly coloured fins above its eyes. Each cheek was coloured sickly orange with two sharp spikes erupting out of the sides, quivering in the air as a three-pronged upper lip snapped open, and small orange pods were on each of its four powerful limbs.

"_Swommm_!" snarled Swampert, cupping its hands in front of its mouth and pointing them towards the sky. As its body glimmered with a blue aura, a large ball of water formed above its hands, and the Mud Fish Pokémon began to spin around in circles, dragging the water with it. As it picked up speed, the water distorted into a huge, glowing disc, and when Swampert spun as quickly as it could, the wind that was created by the spin threw the water high into the air to form a vast whirlpool.

With a toothless smirk, Swampert swung its arms one last time and hurled the whirlpool straight at Moltres, forcing it to swoop down below the level of the shrine to avoid the attack. Taking advantage of the distraction, Paul allowed his eyes to wander back to Melody, or rather, the place where he'd last seen Melody, lying in the middle of the ground. Now, as he watched, she seemed to be slowly edging her way towards the shrine for some reason, her eyes filled with terror and helplessness.

_Serves her right for trying to get between me and catching this Moltres_, he thought cruelly, raising a hand to his chest to make sure that the Fire treasure hadn't spilt loose after he'd ducked underneath Moltres' Fire Spin. He gave a quick breath of relief as his fingers ran over a large bump in his jacket pocket, and he looked back to Swampert. The Water-type was crouching over the edge of the stone platform that gave way to the volcanic pit in the centre, its head swinging this way and that for any sign of the Legendary Pokémon.

_YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THIS!_

"I told you—!" he yelled at the pit, running over to join Swampert, "I'm not leaving!" He looked down into the darkness, searching for a flicker of flames, only to be blinded by a white-hot flash of light that made him stagger backwards, feeling his legs buckle and his back crash onto the ground behind him as he clutched at his eyes.

_SO BE IT!_

"Hydro Cannon!" cried Paul, gasping as his eyes slowly readjusted themselves to the daylight.

As its master blindly felt around on the ground, blinking stupidly, Swampert's jaws split wide open, charging a shining ball of bright blue water just in front of them. As the orb got larger and larger, there was a terrifying squawk from below, and Moltres soared into view above the shrine, its eyes filled with red fury that was echoed in the thunderous crash of its wings. Without a moment's hesitation, the Water-type volleyed the Hydro Cannon straight into the Titan of Fire, bashing into its face with such force that it was knocked plumb out of the sky.

"Moltres!" gasped Melody, running over as the Legendary Pokémon fell limply onto the ground just in front of the shrine, the tip of a flaming wing drooping over the side of the path and dropping embers into the chasm below. "Paul, stop this!" she yelled, scowling as Paul wordlessly ordered his Swampert to stand next to him, before taking out a PokéBall. "Good…" she sighed, dropping to her knees as he moved it towards his Pokémon. "Now, just return Swampert and we can go…"

"I never said I was recalling Swampert," he said coldly, cocking his arm, and Melody started in surprise, clearly not following him. "Swampert, stay on guard!" he barked, his Mud Fish Pokémon obediently planting its hands on the ground and leering at Moltres, who was still lying motionless on the ground. "Go, PokéBall!" he shouted, bringing the ball around and hurling it dead-straight at Moltres.

_You are mine!_ he thought triumphantly.

"Like hell!"

"What?!" Paul gasped, watching in horror as a hand shot out of nowhere and snatched the PokéBall right out of the air. "_Melody_!"

"Oh, so _now_ you remember my name, do you?" Melody said smugly, getting to her feet and holding Paul's PokéBall at arm's length as the boy's hands curled into shaking fists. "You think I'm just going to stand back and let you try and hurt Moltres?!" she shrieked, waving a hand at the Pokémon still lying face-down behind her.

"Give me the PokéBall!" Paul commanded.

"I don't think so," she sneered, dropping the ball, and it fell over the side of the platform and disappeared into the inky darkness of the crater. "This Pokémon has watched over Fire Island for centuries, and I'm not gonna let some _stupid_ Trainer create a big mess like what happened before! We were lucky then to have Ash, but he's not around to pull us out of it, so you're just gonna have to—!"

"Lucky? _Lucky_?!" he thundered, whilst his Swampert growled menacingly alongside him. "You'll be _lucky_ to get away with this!"

"Oh, yeah?!" she challenged, her hands on her hips as her mahogany hair swayed to and fro behind her. "And just what are _you_ gonna do, huh?!"

"Whirlpool!" he roared, pointing at her.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. Hot Pockets

**CHAPTER 5 – HOT POCKETS**

* * *

"_Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." – Kahlil Gibran_

* * *

"Whirlpool!" Paul roared, incensed, as he pointed at Melody.

"Whirl—_what_?!" she shouted, her eyes widening in terror as his Swampert conjured a sphere of water between its hands. "Y-You're bluffing!" she growled, but Paul folded his arms and narrowed his eyes coldly, waiting as his Pokémon began to spin on the spot, the water flattening out into a large disc above its head. Taking a frightened step back, Melody looked left and right at the ground at her feet; the platform was more than wide enough, but if she was hit, she'd be sent over the edge for sure, and judging by the size of the last Whirlpool she'd seen, it was more than likely.

Frantically looking around, she saw a mass of sharp rocks scattered on the stones, glinting strangely in the light. _Hang on,_ she thought, looking at them more closely, _these are from that Rhydon's Stone Edge_. Quickly, she crouched down and picked up the ones nearest to her, scooping up about a dozen of the rocks, and she looked back at Swampert to see that it was holding the fully-formed Whirlpool above its head, waiting for Paul to give the command.

_Now or never,_ she told herself, clutching all the stones in one hand and lobbing them straight at Swampert. "Here's a taste of _Melody_'s Stone Edge!" she cried, gritting her teeth as most of the missiles fell short of their mark, but one managed to fly further than the rest and hit the Pokémon square in the eye. "Super-effective once again!" she shouted, punching the air as Swampert groaned in pain and clutched at its injured eye, leaving the whirlpool above its head to give in to gravity and crash down, soaking both it and Paul.

"Not so tough now, are you?!" she taunted, wagging a finger at him condescendingly as he silently fumed. A tall shadow crept up her back, darkening the ground in front of her, and she slowly came to a stop as she saw the shimmering at the shadow's edge. _Moltres!_ she thought, turning around inch by inch, and a single frightened squeak escaped her when she saw the Legendary Pokémon in all its glory, standing only feet in front of her.

"I—I—ah—uh…" she stammered; she'd never been this close to one of the Titans before, and she could see why people never tried to disturb them. It seemed enormous, towering above her like a dragon, its sharp eyes staring deep into her. "I—eep—"

"_Koohhh!_" screeched Moltres, a swirling red glow lighting up the inside of its beak. Melody threw herself onto the ground, not even caring as the harsh, grating stone grazed her knees and elbows, but the Legendary Pokémon had other plans. It blasted its Flamethrower across the platform, striking Swampert squarely in the chest, and the Water-type shrieked in pain as the attack set it alight. The Mud Fish Pokémon spewed a thick jet of water from its mouth to try and expel the fire, but the heat of the attack simply evaporated the water before it came close, and Swampert fell limply to the floor, writhing and twitching.

"Swampert?!" hissed Paul, his eyes wide and disbelieving, and he quickly returned his agonised Pokémon to its PokéBall. He spun around to face Moltres once more, but something clamped down on his wrist and yanked him away from the shrine and the Legendary Pokémon, leading him instead towards the stairs at the edge of the platform. "Will you just—let—me—_go_!" he roared indignantly, trying to break free as he glared at Melody, who kept her eyes straight and clamped down even tighter.

"We're getting off this island before you get us both killed!" she yelled back, running up the stairs to the volcano's rim, and Paul bit back a retort as his feet thudded into the stairs, the pair of them jumping up the staircase three steps at a time. "Now pick up the pace before I have to pick up your corpse!" she snapped, vaulting over the top step and sprinting towards the outer edge of the rim.

"I don't need your '_help_'!" he snarled, wrenching his arm free, and he whirled around just in time to see Moltres throw its head upwards to the sky, its open mouth like a pit of flames that danced about in the air with an orange glow. "Whoa—!" he yelped, diving out of the way as the Flamethrower sizzled his way, singing the tips of his jacket's sleeves as he leapt over the edge of the mountain and down the other side.

"Paul!" Melody shrieked, searching for him as she reached the top of the long staircase leading back to shore, but all she could see was a large cloud of dust speeding over the rough terrain. _Did he fall?!_ she thought, mortified, but a horrifying screech from Moltres behind her quickly shut all thoughts of his welfare out of her mind, and she ran down the stone steps as fast as her legs could keep up.

_—!_ she willed herself, almost to the point of launching herself off the stairs with every pounding step of her sandals, feeling the iron-hard jolts that ran up her already sore legs.

Before she could even begin to comprehend her surroundings, she had already sprinted full-pace halfway down the mountain, and she allowed herself a split second to glance to the left, praying that her feet could find stone safely in the meantime.

In that split second, she suddenly knew two things; one, that Paul had definitely _not_ fallen over, but was actually in a controlled slide down the slope, using his shoes like skates just a few feet in front of her; and two, that Moltres was right above her, as its imposing shadow seemed to track the pair of them as though it was their own.

"_Paul_!" Melody shouted, keeping pace with him as they raced towards the base of the mountain, which was quickly looming up on them. "Paul, stop running! I've got an idea!" she told him, motioning wildly with her arms as her eyes flickered between him and the blurred stone steps beneath her.

Her words were short-lived, however, as a white-hot sheath of flames bore down on the ground just wide of Paul, striking a tree and incinerating it in an instant. She screamed with fear as Moltres gave a screech of anger, and she, somehow, picked up her pace and bolted over the stairs, the adrenaline coursing through her like the same fire that had nearly reduced Paul to a crisp.

"I don't have an idea!" she wailed, ducking her head as she heard the Legendary Pokémon's wing-beats like thunderclaps. "It's not going to work!"

"Just try it!" Paul bellowed, and she almost tripped over in amazement as she heard the words; he actually seemed to be willing to follow her lead. "That or you get over here and take my place on this damn roller-_toaster_ ride!" he snarled.

Melody rolled her eyes; rather, she would have rolled them if she wasn't trying to slow down without sending herself face-first into the stones below her. _What a jerk… can't believe I'm actually about to try and save his life after that,_ she thought indignantly, lightly hopping off the stairs and onto the smooth, sandy ground next to her, and she dug the point of her sandals underneath the surface, steadily slowing her down.

Even before she slowed to walking speed, her hands were already in her shoulder-bag, pulling out her prized ocarina as gently as she could; given the way her hands were trembling, she was lucky to keep it in her grasp, and the spiny edges dug into her palms. Taking a deep, settling breath to steel herself, she took one quick glance at Paul, his head turned up at Moltres as the latter prepared to swoop down, and she raised the flute to her lips and began to play.

* * *

_Come on, you want some?!_ Paul thought fiercely, his hips beginning to go numb as the rumbling of his feet against the ground started to take its toll on him. "You want a piece of me, you overgrown chicken?!" he roared defiantly, spinning his head around to stare at Moltres as the latter gave an offended squawk and stretched its talons wide, bobbing up slightly in the air as it readied itself to strike. "You don't scare me!" he thundered, his eyes wild.

A high, clear, haunting note pierced through the air, through the deafening flap of the Flame Pokémon's wings and the scraping growl of Paul's dangerous downwards slide, piercing into the minds of both Trainer and Legendary Pokémon. Moltres flapped its wings and came to a stop in the air, hovering as it slowly turned around to face the source of the sound, and Paul managed to brake and swing himself around to see Melody running her fingertips along her ocarina like raindrops falling into a river.

"What is she doing…?" he wondered aloud, spotting Moltres out of the corner of its eye, and his eyebrows flew up in surprise when he saw it fold its wings and land on the ground, bowing its head and swaying gently to the music. "It's not angry any more…!" he realised, his hand snapping towards an empty PokéBall on his belt, but his fatigued and aching body finally caught up with him at that moment, his legs buckling underneath him.

Paul screwed his eyes shut in pain as he felt all of the weariness in his bones hitting him at once, not noticing even as the glass sphere in his pocket lit up with ruby light, the glow pulsating to Melody's notes. Nor did he notice the Titan of Fire as it turned its head towards him, staring peacefully at its treasure, before giving a husky coo and returning to the air, slowly making its way back to the crater at the peak of the island.

It was only when the music stopped that he opened his eyes, unable to tilt his head sideways to try and see Melody, or to rub his face with his hand in relief, but only able to stare at the blue expanse of sky above his head as a great white cloud slowly drifted away. A few moments later, he heard the gentle crunch of shoes on gravel, and Melody's head came into the top of his vision, staring at him upside-down with a barely-concealed look of superiority plastered on every feature.

"I never knew you were the kind for daydreaming and staring at clouds," she smirked, hands on her hips. "Especially after Moltres came about a hair away from turning you into a shish-kebab about thirty-odd times," she added, and he groaned with frustration as his muscles refused to obey his will to stand up and throttle her.

"If I could move my body right now…" he hissed, and she replied by swiftly giving him a firm nudge in the shoulder with her sandal before rolling him over onto his stomach. "What the hell was that for?!" he yelled, his voice muffled by the ground.

"For nearly knocking me into the crater with that Whirlpool attack," she said snappily, kicking him in the ribs, and she sneered when she heard him howl in pain. "Maybe next time you'll think twice about teaching me a lesson, because I might not be able to save your butt with my flute!"

"I don't have time for this…" he muttered, taking a deep breath before tensing himself up, trying to return some movement to his limbs. Melody folded her arms and smacked her lips, holding back laughter as she watched him squirming about on the ground, his face steadily growing redder and redder as he tried again and again to stand up.

"You, uh, you need some help there, Paulie-boy?" she sniggered, crouching down and resting her hands over her thighs.

"I told you before, I don't need your help…!" he groaned, vainly moving left and right in an effort to roll onto his back again.

"Well, going on our track record, yeah, you _do _need my help," snorted Melody, shuffling around and grabbing him underneath the armpits. "Oh, quit being such a baby," she hissed, as he winced in pain and glared hatefully at her. "Like I was saying—" she looped his arm around her shoulders and held him by the mid-section, guiding him back towards the stairs, "I've saved your life twice now. And that's just since we landed on this island," she added, with a laugh that made Paul scowl.

"And you're helping me _now,_ why?" he growled.

"Because this is gonna put me at three-and-zero," she answered with a wry grin. "And… as much as I hate to admit it, you're still needed for the ceremony, and it wouldn't look good for our festival if our Chosen One was found left for dead on the side of the footpath, now would it?" she explained, giving him a serious look. "So, y'know, don't go thinking I did it for _you_," she said in a honeysweet voice laced with danger.

_This is so humiliating…!_ he thought, gritting his teeth and resisting the urge to spit on the ground as he looked the other way, allowing Melody to slowly walk him down the rest of the stairs between themselves and the shore.

_He is so ungrateful…!_ Melody thought, biting her tongue and making a slicing gesture with her free hand at her side.

* * *

"And… we're back home!" chirped Melody brightly, smoothly bringing the boat in to dock at the harbour. "Shamouti Island, yay!" she cheered, turning off the ignition, securing the rope and hopping onto the wharf.

"You're… enjoying this… aren't you…?!" seethed Paul, crawling on his hands and knees to the edge of the boat, but his head flopped downwards and hid his green-tinged face. A moment later, Melody wrinkled her nose when she heard the loud retching noise, and shivered with disgust as it was followed by a sickly splash in the water below. Paul, on the other hand, gave a deep sigh and clutched the boat's railing with his hands, quickly pulling himself up and wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Better…" he muttered, ignoring the imitation that Melody was, so to speak, chucking his way. "Where am I supposed to take this chunk—" his face twitched and his cheeks bulged for the tiniest of moments, "this _piece_ of glass, anyways?" he asked gruffly, pulling the Fire treasure out of his jacket pocket and holding it out to Melody as he stepped onto the wooden planks.

"Well, thanks very much for adding your own personal spin of _orange_ to the Orange Islands," she said sarcastically, shaking her head as she cast her gaze towards the bottom of her boat, checking for any '_ick_' that hadn't been there beforehand. Paul's mouth twitched violently, this time out of anger and not nausea, and he snapped his fingers in front of her face, thrusting the treasure towards her again.

"Oh… how could I forget…?" she sighed in a dull voice, narrowing her eyes at him. "You've got to take it to the shrine on the other side of the island, talk to Slowking, and put the treasure on its pedestal," she explained simply, turning on her heel and striding down the pier.

"In that case—" smirked Paul, walking alongside her and getting a few feet in front, "I don't have any need for it, do I?" he asked sardonically, dropping the treasure onto the wood with a loud _clunk_.

Melody stopped in her tracks, a look of outrage etched onto her face as he dug his hands into his pockets and walked towards town. _You bastard!_ she thought, her hands curling into fists, and she snatched up the treasure as she marched after him, and he turned around with a bored tilt of the head as he heard her footsteps. Before he could blink, she brought her foot swinging upwards, driving it into his groin with such force that he instantly crumpled backwards, clutching at himself and swearing profusely at her as he rolled onto his side.

"What the—_hell_ is your—problem?!" he roared, his face red as he staggered shakily to his feet, the green tinge returning to his face as he collapsed sideways onto one knee.

"_My _problem?! _MY _PROBLEM?!" she screamed, pushing the treasure so closely to his face that it smacked him in the nose. "You could have broken this! The treasure of the Titan of Fire! Don't you realise how valuable this is?!" she howled, standing over him with a ferocity that made onlookers stare in shock, as though they had just witnessed a particularly violent crime being committed. "This is one-of-a-kind! Irreplaceable! Priceless! And some—some—_moron_—like you just tosses it onto the ground like an empty soda can?!" she raged, her empty hand twitching as it crept towards his throat.

"Take a good look at it, you stupid girl!" he snapped, regaining his feet, his composure, and his demeanour. "You said that these spheres were put on the islands _centuries_ ago, and look! This one is flawless; not a single mark or scratch! Worse things are bound to have happened to it than being dropped onto some stinking wood!" he snarled viciously, ripping the treasure out of her grip with his head barely inches in front of hers.

The pair glared with a loathing that could have ignited the air, had they stared a moment longer before they abruptly turned their backs on each other. As Melody restrained herself from leaping on Paul and tearing him to shreds, a tick of helpless frustration ran through her as she thought about what he had said. _It's true,_ she realised, mouthing a curse at his undeniable logic, _the thing is perfect, and it's a relic…! Argh, damnit, I'm in the wrong here… this is so unfair…!_

"Your verdict…?" he murmured smugly as if reading her mind, glancing over his shoulder at her, and she scrunched up her face in anger.

"I'm going home," she snapped, her hands again balling into fists as she marched towards solid land, arms floundering about at her sides. "Meet me in the town square at sunset, and I'll take you to the shrine."

"I already told you I'm not doing that…!" he said loudly, lips pursed stubbornly as he watched her stop and tense her shoulders, looking as though she'd seized up in the middle of her stride.

"You're doing it whether you like it or not!" she shrieked over her shoulder, her arms trembling with fury. "You don't do this, and you're not getting a ride to the _next_ island, got it?!" she told him, stamping over the last few planks of wood and onto dry land, quickly disappearing amongst the lines of people that were strolling down the harbour-side road.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
